Rabbi Joachim Prinz speaking at the March on Washington, D.C. , August, 1963.

Standing with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rabbi Joachim Prinz (1902-88) came to the U.S. in 1939 after the Nazi government formally expelled him from Germany. In addition to his congregational work, Prinz was active in national and world affairs, joining the executive board of the World Jewish Congress in 1946. He also served as president of the American Jewish Congress from 1958-1966. Prinz was active in the civil rights movement throughout the 1960s, being one of ten founding chairman of the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights. Prinz spoke at the August rally, appearing on the podium just moments before the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Earlier, in April 1960, Prinz led a picket line in front of a Woolworth store in New York City, protesting discrimination against African Americans at lunch counters in Southern states.